I believe people evolved by the ways of science. The Earth was created by the Big Bang and the humans are on this planet because it has a substantial environment to live on. Even though I believe in the Big Bang I still don't know if maybe and "power" caused it.Just because I believe in evolution it doesn't mean there isn't a "creator", I haven't figured out what I believe yet.
I understand that there is suffering and death and when it happens to someone very close to you it is difficult, but in some ways (sadly) I think it helps the Earth/communities. If everyone could live and have a great life the world would be over populated. I think that there is maybe someone or something that does this to people, but randomly. I don't believe that if you do something terrible something terrible will happen to you and also when you do something good I don't believe something good will necessarily happen to you. I wish that wasn't true, but I believe it is.
I feel like you should be able to live your life the way you want to. If you want to be religious or if you don't, it is up to you. I want to live a good life, I don't want to be held back by beliefs and religion. I want to do or patrol myself with what is right thing to do in my perspective. I think your life is your decision so that is why some people make terrible decisions and why some people make great decisions. I was raised by my parents Catholic, but my parents believe that during my life I will figure out what religion I will follow and believe. I still haven't truly found what I believe in.
I hope that when I die my soul will go on to a "new life" or something beyond being finished and done. Also I hope and truly think that I will find the meaning of life after I die. Even though I hope this will happen, I don't know if it will. When you believe in a religion you don't have to believe in everything about it. I think what you believe is up to you. Even though (I think) I believe in evolution there are just certain things that don't make sense. I wonder if all different religions have different answers to the same questions because maybe they aren't looking for facts, the answer is what they believe. I don't believe in much but I believe there's something.
Stephanie:Why does Vishnu come down on Earth?
Guru: He comes to help when the common man cannot control negativity and evil.
Stephanie: Is Brahman the source of all power?
Guru:He is the god but you have a piece of him in you soul, he is you.
Stephanie:How many lives until I will achieve moksha?
Guru: There is no certain time, you karma will determine that.
Stephanie:Do you think we should continue to the stage of renunciation?
Guru:It is up to what you believe is the right thing to do. Do you want to give everything up and reunite with Brahman?
Stephanie:Does Brahman come to our household shrine?
Guru:He is always there when you worship.
Stephanie:Should we listen to our atman rather than our jiva?
Guru: The jiva is only your self identity during a life time, but you atman will always with you because it is your soul. Listen to your atman.
When ever people hear the word meditation they think of some hippie sitting criss-cross apple sauce on the ground making funny noises. Doing this exercise I now understand that it is much more into depth than that. The first day before Meditating I thought it was going to be a piece of cake! Then after the first minute I realized it was going to be harder than that. Staying still and thinking for five minutes seemed like a very simple thing to do, I figured I did it all the time. I always stay still and let my mind wander in the car, laying on a pool float and sadly sometimes in class! On Friday night I sat down at my desk in my room, I turned off my phone and just closed my eyes. My mind was freely thinking about many thing in my life, what my weekend will be like, what's my homework, what will school be like next year. After minute or so my nose would get an itch, I would forget about and keep meditation. Then again not even 30 seconds later I would think about a task and get a strong urge to go do it. No matter how hard I tried to let it go that nagging feeling kept coming back. Trying to forget about it I would go back to thinking about the previous thought. On the first day I definitely didn't master meditation. The second day I had a friend over and I decided to see if she could meditated. We sat down on some chairs on the patio and close our eyes. Once again after only a little amount of time had passed flies stared swarming around us, of course we swatted them. Again the second day of meditation was not a success. It takes a large amount of concentration to not have the temptation to get distracted by the things around you. On the last day I was determined to get positive results. I figured out that instead of trying really hard that I just needed to relax and reflect on the past few days. I sat down at my desk once again and was ready for a peaceful and quaint five minutes. There were many obstacles while I was meditation, but I tried very hard to ignore them. I thought more about the same things I had thought about the past days. Overall I think I did better than the other days! Meditation is a practice that people do and it is a lot more complicated than it looks. While trying to do it these three days I understand that meditation requires a lot of concentration and it makes you think. I didn't necessarily enjoy meditation but I want to keep trying. I think meditation takes a long time to perfect and I hope it will be something that I like.
If I were giving Moses the Ten Commandments there would be very little that I would change in them. I would keep the order because the mood of God's feelings progress as you get further in the Commandments. I think what God said was slightly harsh. I know that he was trying to keep order and rule but I believe that you should give people some faith. In the Ten Commandment the section where it says "You shall have no other Gods before me" I don't believe it should be that way. I think that God should be open to people believing in other things even if it isn't his religion. Also in the section "Do not be afraid.God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning." I once again believe that people should be given the right to be trusted and God should have faith in them because they are his followers. If I were God telling Moses the Ten Commandments those would be the few things I would adjust.
All of the parables that we had to read were very interesting and all had a great meaning behind them. Although they were all enjoyable there was one that really stood out to me, and that was the "Great Banquet." I think that the metaphor in the parable was, no matter what state you are in wheather you are rich, poor, dirty or clean never take something for granted. All of the wealthy people in the story thought that they had better things to do and that attending the banquet wasn't a big deal. When all of the less-fortunate people got invited they took the offer because they knew that an event like that would not happen everyday. Also when the man said "These people will never get a taste of my banquet" it means that those people are missing out on something great and since they took it for granted they will not get any of it. Whatever they are not getting will be something they need in the end. This parable is very useful to more-fortunate people that think they can have anything in the world and when they pass something up they think they can get it again they do not realize that somethings are a once in a lifetime thing. In my lifetime I cannot remember a moment where I took something for granted (even though I know I have and I just can't remember.) But from now on I will always realize how fortunate I am and I will take nothing for granted.
In the United States there is a misconception about the religion of Islam. Personally I don't think its fair to stereotype Muslims. I understand that people are scared of them because of what has happened recently but, pretty much no one in the religion is a terrorist. I think people in the United States need to understand that this community of Muslims is like anyone else, they have a strong belief in their religion. There are people in many other religions that have done things bad like the Muslims so why are we only scared of them? Unfortunately I don't think there is anything that we can do to change the relationship between Muslims and Americans. People are scared of them and once you are scared of something there is very little you can do to change that.
I believe people evolved by the ways of science. The Earth was created by the Big Bang and the humans are on this planet because it has a substantial environment to live on. Even though I believe in the Big Bang I still don't know if maybe and "power" caused it.Just because I believe in evolution it doesn't mean there isn't a "creator", I haven't figured out what I believe yet.
I understand that there is suffering and death and when it happens to someone very close to you it is difficult, but in some ways (sadly) I think it helps the Earth/communities. If everyone could live and have a great life the world would be over populated. I think that there is maybe someone or something that does this to people, but randomly. I don't believe that if you do something terrible something terrible will happen to you and also when you do something good I don't believe something good will necessarily happen to you. I wish that wasn't true, but I believe it is.
I feel like you should be able to live your life the way you want to. If you want to be religious or if you don't, it is up to you. I want to live a good life, I don't want to be held back by beliefs and religion. I want to do or patrol myself with what is right thing to do in my perspective. I think your life is your decision so that is why some people make terrible decisions and why some people make great decisions. I was raised by my parents Catholic, but my parents believe that during my life I will figure out what religion I will follow and believe. I still haven't truly found what I believe in.
I hope that when I die my soul will go on to a "new life" or something beyond being finished and done. Also I hope and truly think that I will find the meaning of life after I die. Even though I hope this will happen, I don't know if it will. When you believe in a religion you don't have to believe in everything about it. I think what you believe is up to you. Even though (I think) I believe in evolution there are just certain things that don't make sense. I wonder if all different religions have different answers to the same questions because maybe they aren't looking for facts, the answer is what they believe. I don't believe in much but I believe there's something.
Stephanie:Why does Vishnu come down on Earth?
Guru: He comes to help when the common man cannot control negativity and evil.
Stephanie: Is Brahman the source of all power?
Guru:He is the god but you have a piece of him in you soul, he is you.
Stephanie:How many lives until I will achieve moksha?
Guru: There is no certain time, you karma will determine that.
Stephanie:Do you think we should continue to the stage of renunciation?
Guru:It is up to what you believe is the right thing to do. Do you want to give everything up and reunite with Brahman?
Stephanie:Does Brahman come to our household shrine?
Guru:He is always there when you worship.
Stephanie:Should we listen to our atman rather than our jiva?
Guru: The jiva is only your self identity during a life time, but you atman will always with you because it is your soul. Listen to your atman.
When ever people hear the word meditation they think of some hippie sitting criss-cross apple sauce on the ground making funny noises. Doing this exercise I now understand that it is much more into depth than that. The first day before Meditating I thought it was going to be a piece of cake! Then after the first minute I realized it was going to be harder than that. Staying still and thinking for five minutes seemed like a very simple thing to do, I figured I did it all the time. I always stay still and let my mind wander in the car, laying on a pool float and sadly sometimes in class! On Friday night I sat down at my desk in my room, I turned off my phone and just closed my eyes. My mind was freely thinking about many thing in my life, what my weekend will be like, what's my homework, what will school be like next year. After minute or so my nose would get an itch, I would forget about and keep meditation. Then again not even 30 seconds later I would think about a task and get a strong urge to go do it. No matter how hard I tried to let it go that nagging feeling kept coming back. Trying to forget about it I would go back to thinking about the previous thought. On the first day I definitely didn't master meditation. The second day I had a friend over and I decided to see if she could meditated. We sat down on some chairs on the patio and close our eyes. Once again after only a little amount of time had passed flies stared swarming around us, of course we swatted them. Again the second day of meditation was not a success. It takes a large amount of concentration to not have the temptation to get distracted by the things around you. On the last day I was determined to get positive results. I figured out that instead of trying really hard that I just needed to relax and reflect on the past few days. I sat down at my desk once again and was ready for a peaceful and quaint five minutes. There were many obstacles while I was meditation, but I tried very hard to ignore them. I thought more about the same things I had thought about the past days. Overall I think I did better than the other days! Meditation is a practice that people do and it is a lot more complicated than it looks. While trying to do it these three days I understand that meditation requires a lot of concentration and it makes you think. I didn't necessarily enjoy meditation but I want to keep trying. I think meditation takes a long time to perfect and I hope it will be something that I like.
If I were giving Moses the Ten Commandments there would be very little that I would change in them. I would keep the order because the mood of God's feelings progress as you get further in the Commandments. I think what God said was slightly harsh. I know that he was trying to keep order and rule but I believe that you should give people some faith. In the Ten Commandment the section where it says "You shall have no other Gods before me" I don't believe it should be that way. I think that God should be open to people believing in other things even if it isn't his religion. Also in the section "Do not be afraid.God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning." I once again believe that people should be given the right to be trusted and God should have faith in them because they are his followers. If I were God telling Moses the Ten Commandments those would be the few things I would adjust.
All of the parables that we had to read were very interesting and all had a great meaning behind them. Although they were all enjoyable there was one that really stood out to me, and that was the "Great Banquet." I think that the metaphor in the parable was, no matter what state you are in wheather you are rich, poor, dirty or clean never take something for granted. All of the wealthy people in the story thought that they had better things to do and that attending the banquet wasn't a big deal. When all of the less-fortunate people got invited they took the offer because they knew that an event like that would not happen everyday. Also when the man said "These people will never get a taste of my banquet" it means that those people are missing out on something great and since they took it for granted they will not get any of it. Whatever they are not getting will be something they need in the end. This parable is very useful to more-fortunate people that think they can have anything in the world and when they pass something up they think they can get it again they do not realize that somethings are a once in a lifetime thing. In my lifetime I cannot remember a moment where I took something for granted (even though I know I have and I just can't remember.) But from now on I will always realize how fortunate I am and I will take nothing for granted.
In the United States there is a misconception about the religion of Islam. Personally I don't think its fair to stereotype Muslims. I understand that people are scared of them because of what has happened recently but, pretty much no one in the religion is a terrorist. I think people in the United States need to understand that this community of Muslims is like anyone else, they have a strong belief in their religion. There are people in many other religions that have done things bad like the Muslims so why are we only scared of them? Unfortunately I don't think there is anything that we can do to change the relationship between Muslims and Americans. People are scared of them and once you are scared of something there is very little you can do to change that.